PANSY 



PAPAVER 



2455 



inches to a foot high might be made on fresh ground 

 that is a little sandy and was well manured for a pre- 

 vious crop; dig and make the soil fine and water it well 

 before sowing the seeds. Sow in drills 3 inches apart 

 and ^6 m ^h deep. One ounce of seed will sow about 

 300 to 350 feet of drill, or 90 feet if sown broadcast. 

 Cover the seed YS inch deep with fresh sand or sandy 

 soil, pat down or roll well and give a light watering. The 

 surface should be dusted with sulfur or grape dust to 

 keep the damping-off fungus from starting. Cover with 

 boards, leaving space for ventilation; or they can be 

 covered with moss, hay, or straw, being sure to remove 

 the covering as soon as the seed is sprouted. Pansy seed 

 will not sprout well if kept above 75. After sprout- 

 ing and until they have the second leaves, it is a good 

 plan to cover them with the thinnest muslin, tacked 

 on frames. Sashes may be used if well shaded and well 

 ventilated. 



To secure the best results, pansy seed should be 

 sown from July 10 to August 25. If plants for cut- 

 flowers are wanted, sow the seed the first part of July. 

 The best plants for wintering over in the field for 

 spring sales are from seeds sown from July 10 to 20 in 

 the northeastern states. Five or six weeks after 

 sowing the seeds, the plants are usually large enough 

 to be transplanted in the field, in good rich ground. 

 The soil can hardly be made too rich, and should be 

 in raised beds so the water will not stand on them in 

 the winter. Plant 7 or 8 inches apart each way. If 

 a coldframe is used, from 50 to 250 plants can be set 

 under a 3- by 6-foot sash. If pansy plants are trans- 

 planted the first time into the place where they are 

 wanted to grow, they will have larger flowers; for every 

 time the roots of a pansy are disturbed, the flowers 

 will be smaller. Just enough mulch should be applied 

 to hide the plants from view after the ground is frozen. 

 This mulch is taken off as soon as the frost is out of 

 the ground in the spring. 



There are from 25,000 to 28,000 seeds in one ounce 

 of pansy seed. Growers usually allow one ounce of seed 

 for 4,000 plants. With good fresh seed and great care, 

 7,000 to 8,000 plants should be obtained from one 

 ounce of seed. For commercial purposes, pansy seed 

 should be planted in July and August, but at this time 

 of the year, it is too hot for the seeds to grow well. 

 Seeds planted in the fall or early spring will give 

 double the number of plants and require less care. 



If pansies for winter blooming are desired, trans- 

 plant as soon as the plants are large enough to the 

 beds or benches in the greenhouses. They will need 

 about the same temperature as for violets, 40 to 45 

 at night, and 60 in the daytime in bright weather. 



Pansies are now being grown very extensively for 

 cut-flowers in this country. 



If wanted for exhibition purposes, keep the pansy 

 plants in a low temperature till January; some freez- 

 ing, even, will benefit them. Start them slowly into 

 growth at a temperature between 30 to 40 at night, 

 as a higher temperature will diminish the size of the 

 flowers. A weak solution of guano or hen-manure once 

 even- two weeks will help them wonderfully. During 

 growth and bloom, maintain a rather low, even tem- 

 perature, without actual freezing, carefully avoiding 

 extremes in temperature. 



In favored localities pansies designed for early spring 

 bloom receive no glass protection during winter, the 

 plants from the August sowing being transplanted in 

 the fall from the seed-bed directly into their permanent 

 quarters. Good pansies can be grown out-of-doors with- 

 out glass protection as far north as Nova Scotia. Gen- 

 erally, however, it is much better to winter pansies in 

 a coldframe, especially the finer strains. Pansies in 

 bloom should be partially shaded from the hot midday 

 sun, particularly the fancy-colored strains, the petals of 

 which are more delicate in texture. 



CHARLES FROST.! 

 156 



PAPAVER (old Latin name, from the Greek, of 

 dubious derivation). Papaveracex. POPPY. Well- 

 known flower-garden plants, of brilliant but short-lived 

 bloom. 



Herbs or rarely subshrubs, annual, biennial and 

 perennial, with milky juice, bristly or smooth and often 

 glaucous: Ivs. usually lobed or dissected in a pinnate 

 way: peduncles long, single-fid., the bud usually nod- 

 ding: fls. red, violet, yellow and white; sepals 2; 

 petals usually 1; stamens numerous: ovary and caps, 

 globose, obovate or top-shaped, dehiscing under the 

 vertex by transverse pores between the placentae, the 

 openings very 

 small and valve- 

 like; this vertex 

 or flattened some- 

 times conical top 

 or cap represents 

 the combined 

 radiate stigmas; 

 placentae 4 - 20, 

 projecting into the 

 c e n t e r. Species 

 more than 100, 

 largely in the 

 Mecut. region, and 

 the Armenian- 

 Persian region and 

 somewhat east- 

 ward, with one in 

 the southern hemi- 

 sphere; Fedde ac- 

 cepted 99 species 

 in 1909 in En- 

 gler's Das Pflan- 

 zenreich, hft. 40 

 (iy:104) together 

 with many botani- 

 cal varieties and 

 hybrids. Two or 

 three species are 

 indigenous in W. 

 N. Amer. Opium 

 is made from the 

 milky juice of P. 

 somniferum, which 

 oozes from shallow 

 cuts made in the 

 young capsules. 

 The seeds have no 

 n a r c o ti c proper- 

 ties and are sold 

 for bird food under 

 the name of "maw 

 seed." They also 

 produce a valu- 

 able oil. 



Poppies rank among the most popular flowers in 

 cultivation. From their astonishing range of color, and 

 from the formidable list of names given below, one 

 might suppose their botany to be very complicated. 

 It is, however, easy to understand, although the varia- 

 tion in some of the species is very great. There are 

 only four species commonly cultivated and these are all 

 remarkably distinct. They are (1) the opium poppy. 

 (2) the corn poppy, (3) the Iceland poppy, and (4) 

 the oriental poppy. 



1. The opium poppy, P. somniferum, is one of the 

 commonest and the most variable. It is annual, of 

 tall stately habit, and recognized at once by the glau- 

 cous hue of its foliage. The flowers are the largest of 

 any of the annual species, but unfortunately they are 

 useless as cut-flowers because they drop their petals 

 so quickly. 



2. The corn poppy of Europe, P. Rhaeas, is also an 

 annual, but a dwarfer plant, with green hairy finely 



2750. Shirley poppy. One of the forms 



of Papaver Rhoeas. 



